Director: Leigh Janiak
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Thinking back to her time at camp, a young woman tells other survivors of a brutal massacre about arriving at a summer camp with her sister and other friends years earlier and coming into contact with a curse that turned one of the other counselors into a vicious killer and how they stopped his rampage.
Review:
Overall, there was quite a lot to like about this one. One of the better features to be had here is the way this one leads into the events at the camp involving the treatment they receive there. Seeing how different the two girls are where the differences between the more carefree and adventurous one against the stuck-up and rigid friend cause a wide gap that affects their time at the camp already with how the other kids continually and mercilessly bully her about her being a witch. The incredulity about how they can possibly be that cruel in this type of world amidst the rest of the treatment they dole out to her friend is a rather fun instigation to everything.
Once the film moves into the arrival of the witch’s curse over the camp and the start of the slayings, there’s a lot to like here. The discovery of the shack and noting how the possessed gets infected is quite fun, moving through the chilling scenes out in the woods looking for the hiding spot which leads into the dark confrontation in the ruins of the house where all the supernatural influences acting on them as well as the final revelation that shows the possession will happen starts this one off quite well. When the snap eventually occurs and the initial strike occurs forcing them to escape, the film generates a lot to like with the suddenness of the action and the darkness of the location coming into play rather nicely.
The second half here, which is carried out as a fantastic series of slasher scenes that alternate quite effectively between brutal ambushes and chilling stalking. The idea of appearing at various rooms and cabins around the camp laying waste to everyone they come across with the bloodsoaked ax, this comes off incredibly well with the chilling sequences and unaware rampage going on at the same time that keeps this moving along being full of slick, high-energy sequences. Tying it all together with the supernatural aspects of the witch’s curse driving the possessed into killing and going through the rampage in the first place, there’s so much to like here that it manages to keep the film up quite heavily.
There are some small factors holding this one back. The main one that drags this down is the somewhat uneven pacing in the final half which contains way too much going on that it becomes far too dragged out for its own good. The fact that there are several conversations about the status of their lives under the curse is way too late into the film to matter when it’s already been established that people have been affected by the curse. As well, the whole finale itself goes on too long with the search for the witch’s body and then cutting back to the real-world search that all comes into play with the cross-cutting that’s not always handled right as it lets the film goes on much longer than it should. Otherwise, though, there’s not a whole lot really wrong here.
Overview: ****.5/5
Just as much fun as the original but still holds onto a few small issues just like the original, there's a lot to really like here which continues the series going along on a rather fun note. Fans of the original entry, enjoy this kind of slick, glossy mainstream-friendly genre entries, or fans of the creative crew while those that are turned off by those first two factors should only take this one on if they're willing to finish the story.
This review ran as part of our 2023 Women in Horror Month celebrations. Click the banner below to check out the rest of our month-long celebrations including various reviews and interviews:
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